


5 Years Later

by jooceandtrock



Category: Stupid Twinks
Genre: AU, F/F, F/M, Island - Freeform, M/M, Party, Zombie AU, apocalypse au
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-29
Updated: 2020-04-29
Packaged: 2020-07-19 23:02:11
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 7,749
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19981993
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jooceandtrock/pseuds/jooceandtrock
Summary: 5 years after the zombie apocalypse, the Stupid Twinks host a dinner party.





	1. Abby

Chapter 1  
Abby

Today was April 28th, 2025, five years since the apocalypse, and Abby was doing better than ever. Sure, things had changed a lot for her since then and her plans for her future had, obviously, changed a lot. By now, she had figured she’d be succeeding in the marines, and going to college for cybersecurity. Instead, she was lining up a slingshot with the head of an approaching figure in the distance. With one eye squeezed shut, she pulled her stone back hard, and let go. The rock flew home between the figure’s eyes, and it fell, with a thud, to the ground.  
Zombies were exceptionally easy to kill. At least they were if you had excellent aim. Which she did.  
Abby sat perched on the roof of their home. She liked it up here, especially as the designated protector of the house during the daytime. She had a full view of the surrounding area, the park, the street, and even most of the neighborhood around them. In the yard, Alice and Ian were gathering tomatoes and herbs out of their huge garden, peacefully unaware of the threat that she had just taken out.   
Five years ago, Abby hadn’t been so confident in her abilities. When the zombies came, she had ran- though to be fair, there wasn’t much else she could do. A single zombie wasn’t a huge threat, but back on that day in 2020, the zombies had flooded into their school in huge numbers. Most people didn’t escape.  
“Babby!!!” Alice yelled from the garden, “Come inside real quick! I want your help in the house.”  
Abby jumped from the roof to the awning on the porch, then swung into the door. The house had once belonged to Alice and CJ, but now it was undeniably theirs. Hundreds of sketches and photographs decorated the walls, and the air was fragrant and sweet as a result of Lee’s two-week fascination with candle making a few years back.   
In the kitchen, Alice was rolling out noodle dough while Ian chopped tomatoes. They were making a special spaghetti dinner for the anniversary, and they were even inviting a few special guests, which they very rarely did.   
“Yo, could you clean up in the living room and get a table in there please?” she asked. On Abby’s journey to the living room she peeked into one of the bedrooms. Eli was still asleep- he watched over the house in the nighttime but usually he was up by 3. His slumbering figure was surrounded by sleeping cats, strays that he had taken in off of the street.  
Abby sat down on the edge of his bed and shook him awake gently. He blinked the sleep out of his eyes and scrunched his eyebrows together.  
“What,” he groaned.   
“Wake up!” Abby said, “We’re having dinner in an hour!”  
As Eli started his day, Abby tidied up the house. She put on her favorite summery jumpsuit that CJ had found at a half-destroyed Target. She was very excited, and a little bit nervous. One of the guests at their dinner was of great interest to her, and she had to admit she had developed a huge crush on them.  
“Abby!” Ian yelled from the kitchen. “There’s one in the backyard.”  
“Okay!” Abby yelled back. She hated killing zombies in the backyard. There were a lot of places for them to hide, so she usually had to go outside to kill them. She grabbed a baseball bat and stepped onto the back porch. She didn’t see any zombies- bad sign. She creeped into the backyard. Slowly, she moved towards the tree, bat at the ready. She slid around and jumped out and-   
No zombie. Confused, she whipped around and came face to face with a dead eyed- drooling monster. Its cold hand wrapped around her arm. She slammed the bat into its head in a panic, but its fingers stayed locked. She hit it again and again and finally, it fell to the ground, limp. She gagged. She hadn’t had a close encounter like that in months. She inspected her jumpsuit for blood, but if any had stained it, it had blended in with the black polyester. As she stepped inside the back door, two other friends entered through the front door. Trying to forget about the experience, Abby ran to meet them. They were in charge of inviting the guests.  
“Guyssss,” CJ announced slyly, “We found something good today.”  
“What is it.” Eli asked, seemingly very uninterested in CJs find. His dejected attitude did not seem to discourage CJs excitement.  
“Can I get a drumroll PLEASE!” he shouted. Lee started tapping on the edge of the piano bench until CC pulled an object out of his backpack with gusto. He held it triumphantly in the air, “Its HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL 2!” he yelled. The crowd went wild. The cheers echoed through the house. The applause was deafening. Lee wiped her eyes on the hem of her skirt.   
“Did you get the invitations to our guests?” Alice asked.  
“Guests?” Eli repeated, puzzled.   
“Don’t you remember? We’re having some friends for dinner.” Alice said. Eli blinked. Working the night shift wasn’t really an easy job. “We invited Seter, Ryan, Ybba, and Sid. One from each gang.”   
“Oh!” Eli said. His face suddenly flushed red. “Okay uh when are they coming over?” His voice was level, but his eyes were wide. Alice squinted at him in confusion.  
“A… little less than an hour?” she said, “You alright buddy?”  
Eli didn’t respond, he just careened into his room. Alice shot a confused glance at Ian, but he just shrugged. The silence was interrupted by Lees announcement that she had found lemonade packets on their scavenger hunt. Abby glanced into the full-length mirror by the door. Since the apocalypse, she had grown a foot and had developed, and maintained, a spiky faux-hawk. Her fingers were calloused and strong and she held herself with more confidence than she could ever remember having before the apocalypse. She also had shaved her eyebrows off and pierced her cheeks.  
She turned to study her friends. They had all changed, a lot. Lee’s hair was almost always braided down her back and she had taken to wearing color changing lenses on her glasses because she was just that cool. She had gotten a huge tattoo on her arm of Rivers Cuomo’s face after he had been turned into a zombie in order to honor his memory.  
CJ had grown taller than almost any of them and he had grown a long rattail at the back of his head. He was also jacked as fuck because he kept going to the gym even though the world was overrun by zombies.  
Ian had changed the least appearance-wise but he had gotten literally 20 piercings in each ear just to prove that he could and he hadn’t shaved his sideburns since the apocalypse, though he shaved his other facial hair fairly regularly. He had also gotten one of those undercuts with a design in it but it sucked because nobody in the house was a hairdresser.  
Alice had very long hair and she had many thin braids in it at any given time. Though her body had ceased growing before the apocalypse, her fingers carried on growing and they were horrendously long. She had also lost one of her teeth when Eli “misaimed” and hit her in the mouth with a slingshot and she had developed a rather strong lisp.  
Eli was the only person in the group taller than CJ. At 7’1 he was an absolute tall guy. He wore his bright blue hair slicked back with gel and wore aviator sunglasses even inside. His nose had been broken after he fell the fuck down but it looked like he got in a fight, so it was actually kind of cool.  
Altogether, the group had sort of suffered the biggest glow up in the history of the world, so whatever.  
Abby was jerked out of her train of thought as Eli stumbled back into the living room. He had changed out of his usual NASA t shirt and blue flannel into a blue plaid suit jacket and a galaxy button up and bowtie. He had shaved the fine layer of stubble off his face. His aviators were slightly askew on his nose.  
“You good??” Ian asked incredulously.  
“Yeah. Why? Do I not look good? Do you have a problem?” Eli said quickly. Abby tuned back out. This couldn’t end well. She looked down at her watch. 6:50. Alice vanished back into the kitchen with Ian to plate the pasta. Abby could feel her heart speeding up.   
CJ ran outside to greet the guests. Lee sidled up behind Abby.  
“How are you feeling bud?” she asked.  
“I don’t know,” Abby said.   
“I got something for you!” Lee declared, “I wanted to give it to you.” She pulled a slip of paper out of her pocket and handed it to Abby, who gingerly unfolded it, expertly keeping her hands from trembling.  
It was a recipe. It was a recipe for Zianos breadsticks. Suddenly, Abby felt a whole lot better.  
Fifteen minutes later, 10 friends sat around a table in the living room.  
First up was Seter Sarker, leader of the gang known as the anti-Spidermans that inhabited downtown Fort Wayne. He was not always friendly to the other survivors of the apocalypse, but he found it hard to turn down a chance to flirt with Ian, who would never love him due to the 8 spider legs growing out of his red hair.  
Sitting beside Lee was Ryan, secondhand man to the gang that took up shelter in the Little Turtle Library, a gang called the Idiots. Their leader had some issues with Ian and Eli, and while she refused their invitation, Ryan was happy to come. He joyfully ate his spaghetti with his hands.   
Between Abby and Alice was Ybba Reer, the leader of the DnD gang that lived in the GE building. She was a tough person to have an alliance with since she was basically crazy, but she had taken a liking to their small family.  
Finally, there was Sid, from the Emos. He represented the final group, but nobody could really say that they knew why he had volunteered to come. They hadn’t really spoken to him much and he was only one of 5 emo leaders, and one of the least renowned. He sighed and pushed his spaghetti around on his plate.   
Abby and her friends were called the Stupid Twinks, and while they were small in number, they were strong. At least, she hoped they were as strong as she thought they were. She had a feeling something big was gonna happen tonight.


	2. Eli

Chapter 2  
Eli  
Eli was feeling a lot of things. Uncomfortable. Bored. Kinda sleepy. He tried to think of a sneaky way out of the dinner.

“Uhh” he said, and he stood up and left the room. The group eating dinner went silent for a second but promptly continued their conversation. He walked to his bedroom and flopped down on his bed with his cats. He was about to curl up and take a nap when he realized there was a dark figure standing in his doorway.

“Hey Eli.” Sid said. His voice was quiet like he was trying to make it sound smooth but it was kind of nasally. He had long greasy black hair and thin eyeliner around his eyes. His shoulders were broad and he was wearing a shirt with an undesirable band on the front. Everything about him made Eli’s heart beat faster. Everything about him triggered Eli’s gag reflex.

“Uh why are you in my room?” Eli replied, with a short laugh at the end of the question. Sid shifted uncomfortably in the doorway.

“Well… Our last conversation didn’t really end so well.”

They had gotten into a fight last time. It wasn’t unusual. There were some major differences between the two of them and sometimes Sid really got on Eli’s nerves. And while the Stupid Twinks didn’t have much beef with the Emos, the Emos strongly discouraged fraternization with the Stupid Twinks and largely hated them.

“I really like you Eli. I know we’re different. But I want to make this work.”

“Uhhh,” Eli said. His cats were circling Sid, sniffing him and rubbing against his black skinny jeans. This was stupid! Eli had dressed up and tried to act smooth and cool when he had heard Sid was coming. But, at the same time, he really got on Eli’s nerves- he was boring, and stupid, and his jokes sucked. But he was also very pretty and he was genuinely a nice guy. He wasn’t even that cringey for an emo.

“Let’s announce it.” Sid said, breaking Eli’s train of thought.

“Uh announce what?” Eli asked, blinking.

“Our relationship! I know its forbidden by my people but I don’t want to hide anymore.” Sid said bravely, “I love you, Eli. I love a Stupid Twink. And you’re the Stupidest Twink of them all.”

He had tears in his eyes. Eli snickered.

“I mean ok. If you want.”

Sid broke into a smile. He did have a really nice smile. He grabbed Elis hand and pulled him off the bed. They ran back to the dining room where everyone was finishing up their meal. 

“Everybody!” Sid said, “Eli and I have an announcement.” He looked at Eli expectantly, waiting for him to finish the announcement. An awkward silence filled the room as everybody waited. Eli looked from Sid’s dark brown eyes, to the small gathering, and back. The man was crazy if he thought Eli was going to speak.

Finally, he said, “Eli and I are in a relationship. I know it’s against the laws of this society. But I don’t care!” He pulled Eli into a kiss. Everyone stood up and clapped. Homophobia was over. Sid’s hair smelled like vinegar and it was disgusting. Eli pretended everything was ok. Why did his hair smell like vinegar. Oh god. Oh fuck.

Abby stepped forward hesitantly. Eli silently thanked her. He tried to sniff in the smell of spaghetti as violently as he could. He breathed too hard and gagged. 

“Uh… Actually, I have something to announce too.” She said. She laughed nervously. Her eyes darted around the room. “Uhhhhhh I-“

Suddenly, a crash came from the other room. Everyone jumped. Ybba’s hand flew to her axe. Seter’s legs stiffened. Ryan looked up from his spaghetti, sauce all over his face. 

Sid grabbed Eli’s hand. As heavy footsteps approached the lights flickered and died.

Somewhere in the dark, somebody shrieked.


	3. Ian

Chapter 3   
Ian

CJ yelled “SCATTER” just like the guy in the John Mulaney skit. Somewhere in the dark Abby yelled that she was going to fix the power- she was the only reason they had any power in the first place. She was extraordinarily good with technology and Ian was confident that she could handle it. However, he wasn’t sure he could handle it. He had heard Alice yelling before, asking where he was, but he was pretty much frozen and he sensed that he was more or less alone now.

Sure enough, the lights flickered on a few minutes after Abby had announced her mission. Ian blinked. The spaghetti was all over the floor. Was that sauce or blood? Everybody was gone…. Everybody except…

Seter Sarker was standing near the back door, clutching what used to be one of the spider legs growing out of his head. Green blood seeped out between his fingers. Ian looked down and, to his horror, saw a twitching orange spider leg at his feet. He gagged loudly and jumped back. Seter was weeping pitifully.

“Yo what the fuck???” Ian said, finally. Seter sobbed harder. “Dude what happened?” Ian asked. No answer. “Who did this?” He asked.

Seter sniffled.

“Jesus Christ fine hold up,” Ian said, frustrated. He rushed to the linen closet and grabbed some bandages and medicine. He came back and ordered Seter to sit down. CJ was a little bit more qualified to handle medical emergencies but he had apparently vanished and Ian was pretty good at it himself. As he cleaned the wound and applied pressure- trying to ignore the other legs trembling by his face, Seter looked up at him.

“You know” he whimpered between sniffs, “I’ve always liked you.”

“Yeah you’ve told me.” Ian said, trying to sound as dismissive as possible. Seter sobbed. Ian had to feel bad for the guy, to be fair. He had just lost an extremity. He tried to take the scorn out of his voice, “Bro you know I’m dating Alice and-” Seter, to nobody’s surprise, just started crying harder, “And uh what about Bwen aren’t y’all a thing or something?”  
“Bwen’s always cheating on me with the Emo’s!” Seter exclaimed tearfully, “He doesn’t love me and you don’t either!”

“Uh, well, yeah.” Ian said. He guessed he could have predicted that would be the wrong thing to say. Seter dramatically buried his head in his hands, ripping his wounded appendage out of Ian’s hands. The dude seemed really strong and unaffected usually, but he sure did not deal with emergency situations with ease. 

Ian looked around desperately. This was not how the night was supposed to go! By now he was supposed to be dancing in the backyard, surrounded by all of his friends. This was supposed to distract him from the memories of the apocalypse, not bring back the same stress.

During the apocalypse he had frozen just like he had tonight. The zombies were pouring into North Side in waves. All he remembered was Alice desperately trying to get him to run while Abby was desperately trying to show her her aunt’s Facebook post about drinking wine and being a mom.

“Seter. You have to tell me who did this to you.” Ian said forcefully. 

“I don’t know who it was it was dark!” Seter snapped. Ian thought about it. If every gang had a representative here, it was unlikely that it was any of their members. The only person they knew outside of the gangs was Jake, but he was their friend.

Ian walked into the living room and stared through the giant hole in the window. They were, in this moment, as vulnerable as they had been 5 years ago. Only, 5 years ago, they were all together. He was gonna have to find his friends. 

He ran back to Seter’s side and lifted him up. “We gotta go.”


	4. Lee

Chapter 4  
Lee

Lee had gotten separated from CJ which was not very cool of tonight. She didn’t even know when it had happened, CJ had told her to run and hide in Ian and Eli’s old house next door and promised he’d meet her there, but it had been a good while and he still hadn’t shown up. 

She was sitting in the tub, facing the doorway, but nervously aware of the window behind her. She rubbed her bicep for good luck. If Rivers could get through stretching his own leg every night, she could get through this unexpected and possibly fatal attack on her household.

Suddenly she heard a noise in the room to her right. Her heart sped up and her eyes got wide. Heavy footsteps approached the door. Lee pressed her lips together to prevent breath from escaping. Suddenly, a writhing, furry being landed on top of her. She let out a tiny shriek and scrambled backwards in the tub.

“Uh… Lee? Is that you?” a voice asked. Finally, Lee relaxed. She stared at the thing in front of her. It was a tabby cat.

“I did NOT know you were in here I literally have never been more scared in my entire life dude like jesus Christ my heart is beating so fast,” she said, getting out of the tub to face Eli. His knife was clutched in his hand, and while his glasses hid his expression, it was hard to mistake the fear in his voice.

“Where is CJ?” he asked. Lee felt newly distressed.

“I don’t know. I don’t know! We were running and all of the sudden he was like I’ll meet you at Ian and Eli’s house and now I’m here and he’s not here its been like 20 minutes.” she explained. Eli frowned.

“Why did he yell scatter?” he snorted.

At a loss for words, Lee just shrugged dramatically. She could not explain CJ’s impulsive and often irrational behavior. He just did whatever he wanted.

“So like what should we do now?” Lee asked.

“Uh I don’t know,” Eli scoffed, “Why are you asking me?”

“Do you… See anyone else… around here…” Lee asked with a short laugh. A cat rubbed against her leg and Eli reached down to pick it up. The cat licked his face. His aviators were really dark, and in this lighting, Lee was confident he couldn’t see anything, “Ok well I definitely think we should start trying to find the others. Maybe they know what’s going on.”

“Well Abby probably went to the generator to fix the lights,” Eli reasoned. Lee nodded.

“That makes sense. And its kind of close by.”

“Maybe CJ will be there too?” Eli suggested. Lee sure hoped so. “I have my knife, but you should probably be armed. I have this old missile launcher if you wanna use it.”

“What?? You just have a missile launcher lying around???”

“Literally leave me alone it was a gift.”

“A gift?!?”

“Do you want it or not!”

“No dude. What am I gonna do with a missile launcher.” Lee said incredulously. As Eli passionately defended the merits of his weapon in hand to hand combat, she looked around for something even slightly less ridiculous. Her eyes landed on the aerosol can on the bathroom sink and remembered the lighter in her pocket. She picked it up. It would definitely be effective enough. She turned back to Eli. “Alright, alright. Lets go find our buddies.”  
Then Eli spit on the ground cuz his mouth was full of mucus and saliva.


	5. CJ

Chapter 5  
CJ  
CJ was officially separated from his friends. 

He didn’t get separated from them for just any reason either. Eli’s stupid emo boyfriend had been crying for help in the bushes, and CJ, having the most medical prowess, knew he had to stop and help him. He was morally obligated to. 

Unfortunately, Sid was not simply injured. More than half of his leg had fallen through what appeared to be a rabbit hole, and he was stuck tightly in the ground. 30 minutes later, CJ was still trying to dig him out. As he worked his way down Sid’s leg, he started humming Drag Me Down by One Direction. Sid grimaced loudly. CJs head snapped up.

“I’ll fucking kill you.” 

“I’m sorry! I just don’t know how you can listen to music like that…”

“I’ll leave you in this dirt where you belong.”

“Okay okay, geez keep humming it then…”

CJ, freshly annoyed, went back to work. No less than a minute later, Sid cleared his throat again. 

“So like, why did you yell scatter. Wouldn’t we be stronger together?”

CJ shook his head slowly, “The thing that attacked us… it doesn’t matter that we were all together. We can’t defeat it.”

Sid frowned, confused. His eyeliner was dripping- he’d been crying. CJ felt a little bad for snapping at him, but not that bad. “Who is it then? That attacked us?”

“It doesn’t matter. We just have to get out of here.” He finally freed Sid’s leg from the dirt and hauled him to his feet. “First we’re gonna find Lee. Then we’re gonna hopefully find everyone else. But if not, we have to get to the safehouse.” CJ started walking towards Eli’s old house, slipping his brass knuckled on in the pockets of his cargo shorts.

“What about Eli?” Sid asked, struggling to keep up with CJ’s pace.

“Yeah, we’ll look for him too.”

Sid was silent for a minute. He looked really worried. “Do you think he’s ok?”

“Of course I think he’s okay.” CJ snapped, reaching the bottom of the neighbor’s stairs. “Why wouldn’t he be ok. Jesus Christ.”

Truthfully, CJ was really worried. He was worried none of his friends were ok. Who had screamed? What if somebody hadn’t ran fast enough? What if Lee had been intercepted on the way to the house?

As he neared the screen door on the porch, the front door creaked open. He stopped dead in his tracks and raised his fists, making sure Sid was behind him. “Who’s there!” he yelled. There was shuffling on the dark porch. Then, a familiar face appeared behind the screen. 

“CJ?” Lee asked, she smiled at him, then opened the door. “Come in, come in!” CJ and Sid ran in. Eli and Lee stood on the porch, Eli holding his knife at the ready. He spit more mucus on the floor. CJ gave him a weird look. Sid flung himself into Eli’s arms, making him drop the knife. Eli looked annoyed at this but he gave the emo a pat on the back anyway. 

“We should probably like… Clear out of here.” CJ said to Lee as Sid tearfully talked to Eli about his frightening experience. 

“What? Why?”

“We can’t kill her.”  
“Her?”

“I can’t explain right now we have to go though.” CJ said. He could feel his voice getting more demanding, his eyebrows raising higher on his face. He was getting very upset and very panicked. 

“Okay, okay.” Lee said, concern in her voice. “What about the others?”

“Alice knows what to do. I have three of you. I need to get you to the safehouse.”

“Okay.” Lee said. She looked scared, but her voice was far more level than CJ’s. “I trust you.”


	6. Alice

Chapter 6  
AL

Alice was positively upset. She sat on the ground catching her breath, a block away from the house. Ryan strolled leisurely around her.  
“Uh it is nice weather tonight at least.”  
“Yeah”  
“I don’t know whats going on.”  
“I know, Ryan,” Alice sighed and contemplated what to do next.  
She wasn’t going to survive the night.  
It wasn’t often that your life was a living nightmare, but this was the second time that Alice and her friends had done it and she was tired of it.  
“Do you have Hanne’s number Ryan?” Alice asked. She could hear the exhaustion in her voice.   
“Number?” Ryan asked. Alice reached over and fished his phone out of his pocket. He remained unphased. She went to his call history. The same number had called him over 50 times and was the only person in the history. She called it.  
“Hey Hanne.”  
“This isn’t Ryan.”  
“Yeah its Alice.”  
“Oh hey! Whats up?”  
“Well. Something happened. We were attacked. I don’t think im going to make it.”  
“That’s the tea!!!”  
“So I was wondering if you could do me a few favors. I need you to get ahold of Jacob. If everyone else is gonna escape we need him. Im gonna send Ryan back to you. Maybe you could send a car? The rest of them are gonna be safe.”  
“Uhhh okay I can do that. Hey by the way are we gonna talk about how you got attacked?? Who was it?”  
Alice looked around nervously and whispered the name into the phone. She hadn’t spoken it in years. The hairs on the back of her neck stood up as she shivered.  
“Ohhh that makes sense. Libras!”  
“Hanne, I’m a libra.”  
“Well that’s the tea!!! Anyway I got you covered. Hey do you want to stop by the base later this week? We have some things to discuss!”   
“Hanne im gonna be dead in the next three hours.”  
“Oh yeah, shoot. Okay, well maybe Lee can? Bye!!”  
“Okay. Bye.”  
Alice hung up and sighed. She knew that she would be the first to go after the apocalypse but she thought she had had more time. What she wouldn’t do for more time.  
“Wait… you’re gonna die?” Ryan said quizzically.  
“Come on dude. We gotta get you back home.”  
“Where are your friends?”  
Alice pulled herself off the ground. “Well. That’s the question, isn’t it?”


	7. A Departure

Chapter 7  
GOD NARRATOR

It was at this point that “I” stepped in, to narrate the story. 

My identity is of no concern- I will do my best to be an objective narrator… starting now.

In the small area that the disaster was taking place in, 2 friends had found a place of refuge to stay in. And not only that, they had found the bones of the house, and after fixing the electricity, they had put their minds to a more permanent solution.

Abby had her mind on something else.

“Alright.” Ybba said. Her eyes were determined, her mouth set in a grim line, “I think that if we tweak a few more things- and take note of I THINK in that sentence- we might be able to create a portal.”

“That’s kinda crazy dude,” said Abby, distracted.

“Um. Yeah. Its nearly scientifically impossible,” Ybba said quizzically, “I’ve created one once, but it only transported within 5 feet. This is going to be far more difficult.”

“I didn’t know you were like, smart,” Abby said. She paused for a moment. “Wait no, that’s not what i.. uh…” she dissolved into nervous laughter. Luckily, Ybba thought it was cute. She didn’t know what to think of the odd jock girl from this opposite gang, but she had to admit, it was much easier to talk to her than other people. 

“You’re funny,” she admitted with a smile, “Even when you’re calling me stupid.”

“That’s not what I meaaaant” Abby groaned, throwing her head back. 

Still beaming, Ybba tweaked the last wire, plugged the last plug. As she watched, Abby’s slightly awestruck face was flooded with reddish light, and for the first time in a long time she found herself wanting to companionship. Wanting to feel someone close, to feel warm and not alone.

And so, she leaned in, close to Abby, and kissed her.

Fairly far away from there, Eli and Sid sat shoulder to shoulder in the back of a small car. CJ was driving, Lee was nervously tapping her foot in the passenger’s seat. On Eli’s other side was a large collection of cats writhing around. Sid discreetly slid his hand on top of Eli’s.

A few hours ago Eli had felt… lukewarm disgust for the man. But now he realized he had been holding his breath in Sid’s absence. He realized that perhaps he cared about him, that that nausea in his stomach earlier had not been a product of a need for self preservation, but the dread that something had happened to Sid. He turned his hand until his fingers interlocked with Sid’s.

Sid was not having these same realizations. All he knew was he was scared, he was confused, and Eli made him feel safe.

The car sped past old, decaying houses, slow-walking undead. In a mostly dead garden, Eli spotted the glint of a polished red hat on a garden gnome. He held Sid’s hand tightly. Everything would be different from here. Different wasn’t always bad.

Back at the house, four friends reunited. Alice embraced Ian, and held her ear to his heart. She knew she was going to be gone soon. She pressed her lips together tightly. She would not cry, she would not tell him. It was going to happen, no matter what. Why worry him?

They looked for Abby and Ybba. Alice’s shoulders remained tensed, waiting for whatever would end her life. It didn’t come.

Eventually, Alice, Ian, Ryan, and Seter found Abby and Ybba and the six of them stood before the portal, unsure of themselves. They had each found their own sense of safety within the broken world they had lived in, and even in the absence of a better choice, they hesitated to make the leap into the unknown. 

Alice looked behind her. Hanne had not sent an escape car- she had known she wouldn’t. Hanne was kind, but she had more important things to worry about. She wondered, for a second, if it would be selfish to take this seemingly miraculous way out- she didn’t want to put her friends in danger.

But god, she didn’t want to die either. 

She was the last to pass through the portal.

And then the neighborhood was quiet.


	8. A Moment of Peace on a Lonely Beach

Part 2   
The Safe Place  
One year later

Abby turned the volume on her CD player up, sending the sound of ABBA’s entire discography over the blue sea. The sand was warm and the sound of seagulls barely reached her ears, a result of their familiarity. She was waiting to see the little sailboat silhouette.  
Today marked 6 years since the apocalypse, and 1 year since they had been chased from their homes. And it also marked 1 year since Ybba had kissed Abby. In celebration, she had made her girlfriend a box of breadsticks and some earrings with little lizard skeletons from the beach on them. She had also planned another surprise, but she would save that for later.   
Finally, she spotted the boat in the distance. She jumped up to start waving, but impatiently opted to jump into the ocean and swim out to Ybbas boat. Her girlfriend pulled her onto the deck with a grin and Abby stood there for a moment, catching her breath. The year had aged them considerably- they were both taller, and tan from the island sun. Abby now kept her head buzzed- it was much easier than styling it, and Ybba’s was cut into a jagged pixie cut, though part of it was burned off from a campfire incident. They were both stronger- they were all stronger. The island required work. Abby wondered how their friend had managed alone here for all those years.  
“I got you a present but its onshore,” Abby said, once she caught her breath. Ybba’s eyes widened with excitement.   
“I got you a present too!”  
“Really?”  
“Yes! Should I give you yours first? I have it here on the boat.”  
“No, we should wait so we can do it at the same time.”  
As they sailed to the shore, they chatted about their day. Ybba had caught a lot of fish and harvested some seaweed for the feast. Abby wrinkled her nose. She knew Ybba was doing important work, but she thought seaweed and fish were gross. Abby told her about how the party prep was going, and how she had gotten into multiple fights with their friends about how to decorate, so she decided to go cool off and wait for Ybba on the beach.   
After what felt like a million years, they settled on the sand. “Andante, Andante” was playing and the wind had shaken loose some of the flowers from the bushes in the jungle. They tumbled across the sand. Abby pulled the two boxes out from behind her CD player and presented them to Ybba. Ybba gave Abby two similarly sized boxes, and, after shooting a grin at Ybba, she ripped the boxes open. Inside was 20 brownies with milk chocolate on top and a pair of earrings with pieces of coral on them! Wow. They knew each other sooo well they are so similar. Super romantic.  
They walked back to their friends, holding hands.   
The safe place- the island that they had retreated to one year ago, was located somewhere in the Pacific Ocean. It was adorned by lush foliage; palm trees, big orange flowers, and thick moss. Vividly colored insects and reptiles were easy to find, and the water was blue and full of fat fish. Not to mention the immense amounts of fruits growing on the island- oranges, bananas, coconuts, grapefruits- the gang never went hungry.  
Abby and Ybba walked up the long wooden pathway to the family house. It was a huge log cabin that they all gathered in on occasion. Before the gang had arrived, it had just been Jake. Now, with plenty of new faces, there were 10 new huts gathered around the cabin, each decorated to an extreme.   
And the best part about the island? There were no zombies. No mysterious assailants. They were safe and sound (even if an occasional earthquake shook the ground). Abby found that she was smiling as she entered the cabin.   
The smell of cooking filled her nose, and she stood for a moment and looked around as her lover began cleaning her bag of freshly caught fish. Lee and Eli were quickly chopping up huge quantities of fruit and dropping it into bowls. Alice was taking a nap in the corner and Jake was glowering at her in annoyance as he helped Ian to make big loaves of sweet bread. CJ and Seter Sarker were mixing together a big bowl of fruit punch and Ryan was trying to teach Sid some choreography from Newsies. Hanne, who had traveled to the island a week ago to celebrate, was watching them judgmentally, and correcting Ryan’s instructions. The whole lot of them annoyed Abby sometimes, but it was nice to be together in such a lovely place. She let the rest of the gang know she was going to go start the fire outside, and turned on her heel.  
The decorations outside honestly weren’t so bad. They had laid a big white sheet across their long table, and decorated it with orange blossoms. There were torches set up near the table, and while they didn’t do much good in the current situation, they would come in handy later at night. Abby felt bad for arguing with her friends. She supposed it came from nerves.   
She stuck her hand deep in her pocket, fingers finding purchase on the small, smooth box she was keeping in there.  
Behind her, footfall broke some sticks, and she gasped, snatching her hand from her pocket. She whirled around, certain she’d come face to face with Ybba, but instead it was Sid, looking pale.   
“Oh it’s you.” Abby said.  
“H-hey Abby…” Sid said. Abby was kinda mean to him. Oh well. “Hanne told me to come out and help you with the fire.”  
“I don’t really need help but I guess you can.” Abby said, annoyed. Sid said a lot more stuff but she tuned him out, and they went to work hauling logs to the firepit. After a few minutes she noticed that tears were gathered in the corners of Sid’s eyes. She squinted. “Are you crying?”  
He wiped his eyes, “Yeah…”  
“Hanne was really getting mad about that choreography.”  
“No- I mean, yeah. But that’s not it.”  
“Then what is it?”  
“I’m nervous.”  
Abby paused, waiting for more. He was really gonna make her ask at every turn. “Why?”  
“Well… I’m gonna propose to Eli tonight.”  
Abby froze.  
“What. Did you say.”  
“I just really like him… We’ve been together for a year. I think its time. Do you think it’s a good idea?”  
Now, Abby was a nice person. But she had been planning this for too long for this smelly greasy boy to upstage her. “Uh no not really. I think it’s kind of a bad idea.”  
“What! Really?”  
“Yes.”  
“Why?”  
“Uh!” Abby faltered, searching her mind for a reason, “It’s because you are…” She looked around nervously, desperately trying to form a thought. “It’s because Eli…” She couldn’t think. Her head was empty. Too much blunt force trauma to the skull. Wait- that gave her an idea.  
Through Sid’s eyes, it was like slow motion. Abbys arm came flying through the air, connected with his head with a crack. He fell to the dusty ground and blinked hard. The pain rang through his skull and everything went blurry for a moment. When the world was clear again, he felt a pressure on his chest. Abby’s foot was planted firmly on his chest. A coconut was in her hand.   
The last thing he thought of before the coconut collided with his forehead was Eli.


	9. Seeking Help

Chapter 9

Alice had made a habit of looking behind her.  
That night, one year ago, she had accepted her death.  
She couldn’t help feeling that she was living on borrowed time.  
Even so, she appreciated and loved the life she had made and the friends she was with. She only hoped she was not endangering them. It had been generous for Jacob to allow them refuge on his island- he had moved there under similar circumstances, after his home on the mainland had been infiltrated with zombies, so he had been sympathetic- she didn’t want to draw any trouble to their home.   
“Alice?” Alice looked up into Ybba’s face. She looked pale. Nervous. Unlike herself.  
“Whats up?”  
“I have something to ask you.”   
“Yea? What’s up?” Ybba sat down at the table and clasped her hands together pensively. She didn’t know why she was talking to Alice about it, but she needed to talk to somebody.  
“Why haven’t you proposed to Ian yet?”  
“I don’t know. Marriage kinda seems like an institution of the past due to the zombies and all.”  
“Does Abby think that?”  
“Uh. I don’t know.” Ybba looked agitated. Alice felt confused, “Do you want her to… marry you?” Ybba sighed and pulled a little box out of her pocket. She carefully opened it to show Alice the contents. “I mean, she’ll definitely like the ring,” Alice said encouragingly, “And she really likes you. I think you should go for it.”  
Ybba thought about this for a moment. On one hand, it was sometimes hard to read Abby. She wasn’t the most romantic person, and often scoffed at Eli and Sid, and sometimes even Ian and Alice. On the other hand, they’d been together for long enough that Abby must like her quite a bit. A year wouldn’t have been long enough for Ybba to consider marriage before the apocalypse, but ever since the sudden plunge into near constant mortal peril, the years had felt longer and longer.   
“Thanks for the advice Alice,” she said. But she still needed more advice. She crossed the room to Hanne, who was sipping iced water like champagne. “Hey Hanne, I have something to ask you.”  
“Oh word?” Hanne said, leaning forward, “Ask!”  
“If you were going to propose to somebody, how would you do it?”  
Hanne gasped, overjoyed. “Ok let me think.” She imagined her ideal proposal. She wondered if the object of her desire could hear her thoughts. She fought the urge to glance behind herself and see him. “I would definitely want something super romantic. Probably in public.”  
“You’re talking really loud.”  
“What!” Hanne laughed in an extremely fake manner. Ybba frowned, confused. The truth was, Hanne had hoped her crush had heard her. She liked him so much it hurt, and while she expressed her desire to return to the mainland every time she visited this odd family, she secretly wished to stay on the beautiful island with that beautiful person forever. Ybba thanked her for the advice and walked away, probably to find her girlfriend. Hanne rested her hand on her hand and dreamed of a white wedding. Unfortunately, instead, her eyes focused on an ugly sight. Ian and Seter were standing near the window, and Ian was running his fingers through Seters soft red curls. Hanne gasped. She had known Seter had a thing for Ian, but she never ever thought Ian would reciprocate- especially not in the same room as Alice! As Hanne jumped up, she told herself she was doing it for Alice’s sake.  
“What! Are you guys doing.” She asked skeptically. She pursed her lips and crossed her arms. They didn’t even look guilty… disgusting.  
“Huh? Oh. I’m picking lice out of Seter’s hair.” Ian explained.   
“Mhm. Sure.” Hanne said angrily. “Let me see.” The boys looked confused, but nevertheless, Ian lifted Hanne up to see, due to the fact that Seter was 7 feet tall and Hanne was 4. Sure enough, a thousand little bugs were crawling around on Seter’s head. Hanne breathed a sigh of relief. Then she got an idea. “Hey Ian! Abby needs your help outside. I’ll pull up a stool and do this for you!”  
Seter frowned. “Uh… Are you sure Abby needs his help?” Hanne nodded. She knew Seter liked Ian. But it evidently wasn’t going anywhere. So, she figured it was morally fine for her to shoot her shot.  
As she pulled lice from Seter’s scalp, she felt truly at home.  
Ian didn’t care about any of this. He had gotten used to Seter’s flirting. His spider legs still disgusted him, but he felt lukewarm platonic affection towards the guy. And while he was oblivious to Hanne’s secret fantasy, he wouldn’t care if they got together. He had already forgotten about the interaction on the way outside, instead turning his thoughts to the monkey he had seen in the jungle earlier. His team, Alice Jacob and Lee, had refused to let him catch it and keep it, but he figured he could find it again and bring it home.   
His contemplation stopped short when he reached Abby, who was dragging his brother’s boyfriend’s limp body into the foliage.  
“What the fuck!” he said incredulously. Abby’s head snapped up, panicked.  
“What!” she hissed. “Don’t tell anyone.”  
“I don’t- Uh- What the fuck?”   
“I can’t explain right now.”  
“I just walked away from picking LICE out of Seter’s head to find you dragging my brother’s boyfriend’s DEAD DECOMPOSING body into the JUNGLE and you’re telling me NOT TO TELL ANYONE?!?”  
“Shut up, somebody’s going to hear you,” Abby snapped, “And he’s not dead. And he’s obviously not decomposing.”  
“Then why does he smell like that?”  
“Uh yeah you have a point.”  
Ian walked over and picked up Sid’s legs. Together, they carried him behind a bush. “What happened?” Ian asked.  
“Well, basically, I was planning to propose to Ybba tonight, and he told me he was going to propose to Eli, and I just panicked and knocked him out.”  
“Oh damn.”  
“Can you not tell anyone until after I propose?”  
“Uh, I guess so.”  
They were silent for a moment. Abby picked up the box of brownies Ybba had given her.  
“Want a brownie?”


End file.
